It was one of those weeks- everyone has had them. Everything just goes wrong. My unreasonable drive to meticulously plan every single second of my day out probably didn’t help much. Exhausted, frustrated, and dismayed by the fact that every little thing I had planned to accomplish this week was still staring at me from my planner, I was reminded of a simple and beautiful thing.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
It is a beautiful verse- so beautiful, in fact, that it is often tossed around without given much thought. As I reflected on this verse, I realized that there is something I often forget—that is, I forget the difference between when I make a plan and when God makes a plan.
Let’s face it: human failure is inevitable. I cannot count the number of times I have watched my genius plans crumble to nothingness right before my eyes. And I am not alone. Powerful empires fall; nations fall; leaders fall; Christians fall; atheists fall- it seems as if we are wired with a Humpty-Dumpty complex. Even the best-laid plans go astray. Because we have experienced so much failure in our limited capacity to achieve anything, we have become desensitized to the reassurance God promises us. We must not transpose our humanly experience of failure on the intricate plans that God has masterfully woven.
I think every once in a while, God reminds me of my limitedness so that I can refocus on his limitlessness. He nudges me into humility so that I can remember that my blessings are not the fruit of my own plans. Rather, my blessings lie in His plans, and His plans are inherently different then mine. His plans cannot be bound. His plans will always come to pass. His plans cannot fail.
How easily we forget just who it is that has plans for us as soon as calamity strikes. I may not know what my future holds, and I may not understand why my plans fail, but what I do know is this:
The King of Kings has plans for me.
The Author of Salvation has plans for me.
The Giver of Life has plans for me.
The Alpha and Omega has plans for me.
The Lord of Glory has plans for me.
The Reedemer has plans for me.
The Prince of Peace has plans for me.
The Perfecter of Faith has plans for me.
The Messiah and Savior has plans for me.
The Lord of Lords has plans for me.
The Great I Am has plans for me.
Plans for little me. Little me- the nobody, the unfaithful, the prideful, the sinner.
We don’t deserve to be in His perfect plan- but He chose to write us in anyways. Not because of our worth, but because of His love. His plan is a masterpiece so perfect that we cannot even begin to comprehend its intricacy and fathom its enormity. My confidence resides in the God whose plans cannot be stopped- not by my unfaithfulness, not by my failures, not by other’s ill wishes, not even by the devil. No one in the world can take what God has already secured for me. It is not about my plans- it is about His. And His plans are written in divine ink; they can never be erased.
Know that you are written in His divine plan, and remember just who He is.